CityState : Q & A
started supporting our work and then said , ‘ Come to Rhode Island .’ Ted Sizer , who was running the Annenberg Institute [ at Brown University ], had just been given $ 50 million to set up the institute . So he said , ‘ Come here for that .’ Elliot [ Washor ] and I came here in ’ 95 and we set up our own nonprofit called the Big Picture . And then the [ education ] commissioner , which was Peter McWalters at the time , came to me and said , ‘ Could you set up a model school in the state ?’ And I said , ‘ If I can do it exactly how I want .’ And he said yes .
How do you think the education system as a whole today compares to when you first started the Met ? Stuff ’ s not changing . It ’ s the same as it was thirty years ago . I think our jobs get harder because of the fast world around us and kids looking at stuff for three seconds and then moving on . Unfortunately , schools are not much different . It doesn ’ t mean some programs aren ’ t better . But it ’ s all bigger than that . Everyone ’ s tweaking around the edges and you will not change the system .
In the past few years , we ’ ve made strides at opening up public college to more and more people . At the same time , private schools are more out of reach from most people than ever . What do you think is next for the college landscape ? The Browns , the Yales , maybe even the Fairfields , will not go away . Providence College will always get their students . The next level college that you ’ re still paying $ 60,000 to $ 70,000 — there ’ s a college a week closing in this country now . When we got our accreditation [ for College Unbound ], which everyone thought we were crazy , thirteen colleges had closed in New England during that year . There are three major online colleges — Southern New Hampshire University that you ’ ve seen a million ads for , Western Governors University and Arizona State . Some people have written those three will control the world . I think many underserved people can ’ t just sit there online . It ’ s the personalization that we have in College Unbound . Two-thirds of our stuff ’ s online , but a teacher doesn ’ t do a random sociology course . All the professors , they know their job isn ’ t just to spout out the
30 RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY l SEPTEMBER 2024